ABSTRACT: Pleasant environmental music during an academic test helped students to overcome stress. As a result the grades they obtained were higher. It was also demonstrated that students selecting music as optional course performed better, than music-less control students over three consecutive years. Yet, there remained ambiguities as for the causes of the higher test performance of these students. Our study confirmed a Mozart effect, and further showed a latency of two to three years for such a positive influence to take place, suggesting that it is the practice of music itself that helps cognition. We showed also that other art courses, when freely chosen, have similar positiveinfluences on students’ performances, illustrating that the principles of learning are linked to hedonism and to will effort in a more general manner.